The Dressmaker’s War
By Mary Chamberlain
From the back cover: The Dressmaker’s War is the story of a brilliant English seamstress taken prisoner in Germany during World War II: about her perseverance, the choices she makes to stay alive, and the haunting aftermath of war.
London, 1939. Ada Vaughan is a young working-class woman with an unusual skill for dressmaking who dreams of opening her own atelier. When she meets Stanislaus von Lieben, a Hungarian aristocrat, a new, better life seems to arrive. Stanislaus sweeps Ada off her feet and brings her to Paris. But when war breaks out and Stanislaus vanishes, Ada is abandoned and alone, trapped on an increasingly dangerous continent.
Taken prisoner by the Germans, Ada does everything she can to survive. In the bleak horror of wartime Germany, Ada’s skill for creating beauty and glamour is the one thing that keeps her safe. But after the war, attempting to rebuild her life in London, Ada finds that no one is interested in the messy truths of what happened to women like her. And though Ada thought she had left the war behind, her past eventually comes to light, with devastating consequences.
Book Review by Josephine Berglund
Ada is portrayed as a totally real, flawed heroine who has large ambitions for a better life, but to get it she must pay a terrible price. It shows us how lives can be changed during wartime and the choices they make. The war is well researched and portrayed but is it Ada’s character that remains after you finish the book: her ambitions, her passion, and her imperfections. Overall, a rich, fast read. I loved it.